Outsourcing in the TEFL industry

It's not just for blond-haired blue-eyed wonders anymore.

1st March 2008

no one bitches and moans like foreign English teachers. Especially the foreign English teachers with blond hair and blue eyes. Especially the foreign English teachers who have been spoiled over the last three plus decades with free airline tickets to and from home and rent-free apartments

Teaching the Chinese in Thailand

experiences of teaching an international program

1st January 2008

I came back to Thailand from Korea because I far prefer working with Thai students, or because my experiences here were so much nicer. To my surprise,upon my arrival, the university announced it was launching an international program in which there were many students from the south of China. So I'm in Thailand teaching Chinese students. Go figure!

The perfect storm

Dopey foreigners and mentally deficient Koreans part one

1st October 2007

So Korea, go ahead and continue to hire unqualified native English teachers. You know exactly what you're doing. You're hardly walking and talking testaments to your own good judgement. A plague on all your houses!

Did you plan it?

Getting to grips with student compositions

1st August 2007

To say that it is sometimes difficult to fix a student's written work is somewhat of an understatement; it would be truer to say that it is an excruciating process, one that is often impossible unless you have the author on hand to provide a bit of interpretation.

Agreeing with Alison Empey

The downsides of teaching in Korea

1st July 2007

What exactly is it that I don’t like about Korea, or that made me finally spit the dummy? In as objective tone as I can muster, and in no partcular order, here’s the nature of my gripes.

TEFL’s number one enemy

Losers to the right of me, morons to my left

1st July 2007

There are many successful teachers here in Korea and elsewhere. I have been lucky enough to work with many great teachers. But they are a rare breed, indeed. Successful teachers don't allow the system to beat them down. They rise up to answer the call again and again.

Phrasebook learning

Is phrasebook learning letting Korean students down?

1st June 2007

One of the true beauties of learning another language is the curiosity value of seeing how other peoples string together the concepts the words of their language embody to give meaning to the world in ways we never thought of.

The dog and pony show

Demonstration lessons in the Korean public education system

1st April 2007

I like the principle of putting on a demonstration lesson and having teachers watch. In my time teaching, one thing I have been short of is the opportunity to see other teachers teach. And you can always learn from other teachers.

Levisiting the plobrems

Problems with pronuncing R and L

1st March 2007

Perfect pronunciation in my experience is pretty much the last aspect of a second language to properly fall into place. However there are good reasons why Thai and Korean students should be shown very clearly exactly what they have to do to come up with an unambiguous ‘r’ and ‘l’, and the sort of problems that are going to stand in their way.

Teacher as leader

An article in the Korea Times

1st March 2007

Far too many native English teachers come to Korea with neither plans nor goals in dramatically raising the English language ability of their students. Having failed, they then blame the Korean education system for being uninspiring and unprogressive.

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About Ajarn.com

Ajarn.com was started as a small hobby website in 1999 by Ian McNamara. It was a simple way for one Bangkok teacher to share his Thailand experiences and pass on advice. The website developed a loyal and enthusiastic following. In 2004, Ian handed over the reins to Phil Williams and 'Bangkok Phil' has run the ajarn website ever since.

Ajarn.com has grown enormously and is now the most popular TEFL site in Thailand - possibly even South East Asia. Although best-known for its vibrant jobs page, Ajarn has a wealth of articles, blogs, features and help and advice. But one principle has always remained at Ajarn's core - to tell things like they are and to do it with a sense of humor. Thailand can be Heaven or Hell for an English teacher. It's always been Ajarn.com's duty to present both sides of the equation. Thanks for stopping by.